Arcana Online
by SetsunaGuhehe
Summary: After the Alfheim online arc, a new story begins as Kirito and his friends try out a new game called Arcana Online. In a land filled with magic and powerful creatures, soloing would be impossible. Kirito must gather his friends and find new comrades to make a clan and survive in this world.
1. A new world

**ARCANA ONLINE**

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**Chapter 1:A new world**

A year has passed since the arrest of Sugou Noboyuki and the Alfheim Online disaster.

With the release of the world seed, countless Virtual MMORPGs have been created and among those games, the one that is currently the most popular among gamers is none other than 'Arcana Online'. Taking place in a world filled with magic, players must create clans and work together to defeat powerful monsters that roam the world of Arcana.

"Guess what's for lunch today Kirito.."

Kirito smelled the fragrant, yet familiar aroma coming from the kitchen. Soon after that, Asuna emerged from the kitchen with a plate of two delicious sandwiches.

"S-s-sandwich-san! I missed you so much!" Kirito exclaimed in delight.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me!"

Asuna face turned bright red but when her eyes met those of Kirito's, her frown dissapeared and they both burst into laughter. Life was cheerful and with each other around, they both needed nothing else.

An hour later...

"Crap! Asuna, hurry up or we are gonna be late for the meeting!"

"Be patient will you? I will be there once i download the map file!"

Kirito layed on his bed, staring at the nervegear beside him. All of a sudden, memories of SAO(Sword Art Online) and ALO(Alfheim Online) flashed through his mind. Kirito held the nervegear infront of him, and after a slight moment of hesitation, he put on the device and turned on the power.

"Link, start!"

"That's right. Virtual MMORPGs also have their own good points, right, Kayaba?"

The same old loading screen greeted Kirito. He then touched the imaginary button on the upper right of the menu, and soon, he was transported into an alternate dimension that was completely dark in colour. Lightning striked the ground around him and a gigantic, Wolf-like creature was battling an archmage right in front of his eyes.

The beast swiped its large menacing claws at the archmage, but the attack was deflected with a magical spell casted by him. All of a sudden, thousands of lights shone from all directions and the battle scene faded out to a huge Logo:'Arcana Online'.

"An intro scene? Well this is something new." Kirito was slightly mesmerized.

"Now proceeding to character creation. Please remain calm and keep your senses relaxed." said the system voice.

"Calibration complete. Character created. Would you like to use the name 'Kirito'?"

"Yes please." Kirito replied.

"Welcome to Arcana Online!" the computer voice echoed in Kirito's ears while he was being transported into the game.

All of a sudden, the ground caved in and a narrow, infinite spiral was formed. Kirito was then sucked into the spiral.

"Whooooooaa!"

Kirito landed on the ground with a loud "thud". He then opened his eyes and they immediately widened due to the majestic sight that was in front of him. Huge, gigantic purple trees, massive mountains and collosal clouds patrolling the sky. This was the perfect fictional fantasy world.

"Kirito! Hurry up!"

Kirito turned his head to where the voice was coming from and saw Asuna and Lyfa waving to him in the distance. He instintively started running towards them.A gust of strong, yet gentle wind blew past his face, making his black coat sway. This feeling, the wind, the trees, the magenta sunset, everything felt magical, and he loved it. With a wide smile on his face, Kirito ran towards the horizon where Asuna and Lyfa were waiting for him.

"So this is Arcana Online!"

To be continued...

Setsuna:Hello everyone! I would like to thank you all for reading this fanfiction and i do appreciate feedback even if it is offensive or negative.I would also like to state that i do not own Sword art online or any part of it, and this is just a fanmade story. Have a nice day.

Note:For those who recently followed this story, thank you so much for your do read this chapter once more as countless errors have been corrected and it doesn't sound as weird as you.


	2. The forest of trials

**ARCANA ONLINE**

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**Chapter 2:Forest Of Trials**

"This way!" Asuna signalled the gang.

Today was a special day. It was the day when Kirito cleared Sword Art Online and saved countless of lives, including his dear Asuna. So to commemorate this special day, Kirito and some of his former SAO friends decide to try out a new game. And this is how Kirito, Asuna, and Lyfa ended up in Arcana Online. But things are not going as planned...

"We should be reaching the meeting place anytime soon..."

"Umm...Asuna...wasn't this the way we just came from?" Lyfa said in a worried tone.

"Yui! Could you help us check if this map is accurate?" said Kirito

After lauching the program, small pixels started to materialize in front of them, and then there was a glow as bright as the sun. There stood Yui, dressed in an adorable costume with a small magical hat on top of her.

"YUI, YOU ARE SO CUUUUUUTE!" Asuna blushed and hugged Yui lovingly.

"Mama...you are gonna crush me.." Yui said while trying to break free from asuna's arms.

"Oh, haha, sorry about that. You were just too irresistable!"

"What about the map file Yui?" Kirito suddenly remembered.

"Sorry to say this papa, but the system console in Arcana Online is extremely strict, and it completely bans all forms of third-party plugins. This also means that i will only be able to spawn here for a limited time." Yui was dissapointed.

"Looks like we have no choice but to venture on without the map" Kirito sighed.

And so the gang continued through the huge plains. As they ventured furthur, they eventually reached a forest and came to a halt. Pass through this forest of trials to get to the town of new beginnings. That was what the signboard at the entrance of the forest wrote.

"Seems kind of suspicious, but let's go." said Lyfa

The moment they walked into the forest, huge, thick, vines grew and blocked the entrance of the forest. Kirito acknowledged the vines and continued walking. This was a common type of event in MMORPGs, and the fact that they went as far as to block the entrance meant that what they do here will drastically affect the outcome of something important in the game.

All of a sudden Kirito came to a halt.

"Stay quiet and don't move" Kirito signalled the gang

"Thump...Thump...Thump..." the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard from the distance.

"GYAAAAH!" a scream echoed through the forest.

Kirito immediately signalled everyone to take cover in the bushes.

"A player was probably killed by a powerful monster. I'm guessing that it's the boss of this dungeon." Kirito whispered.

"Thump...Thump...Thump..." the footsteps became softer and softer.

"It should be safe now. Let's keep going." Asuna heaved a sigh of relief

"But that was a close call. We have to be more careful from now on." Lyfa said while wiping the sweat off her forehead.

As weird as it sounds, Kirito and the gang have not seen a single player other than themselves. And to make things worse, they have not received or found a single weapon or obtained a single skill since the moment they logged in. This aroused the suspicion of Kirito, who found it ironic that an MMORPG would leave a newbie defenseless.

All of a sudden, the trees and vines rotated around Kirito and the gang, and sooon, they were completely barricaded and enclosed in an arena-shaped grassland.

"Thump...Thump...Thump..." the same familiar footsteps were heard, but this time, something was wrong.

"EVERYONE GET BACK!" Kirito commanded.

Out of the blue a deafening groan that was so strong blew Kirito and the gang back, and the wall in front of them was smashed through by a gigantic axe. Good thing they were standing at a safe distance, as the massive impact could have easily crushed them.

"Here he comes." Kirito eyes were filled with determination, and the expectation of a fearsome challenger.

A huge ogre entered the arena, and it carefully observed Kirito and the gang.

All of a sudden, the beast swung it's gigantic axe at them. Kirito and the gang darted to their sides, but he was seperated from Asuna and Lyfa. Kirito fell on his back when he saw the massive crater left behind by that single attack. He immediately noticed a weird phenomenon occuring. Several different coloured pillars of light shone forth and penetrated the roof of tree's and plants.

"Onii-Chan! I think those pillars represent the seven elements of Arcana!"

"What are the seven elements?" Kirito shouted while dodging another hit from the ogre.

"I am going to go with this one!" Said Asuna as she ran to the white pillar of light.

Suddenly, Asuna started to glow extremely bright and a staff appeared in her hand. Instinctively asuna waved the staff at the creature and a pillar of bright light struck the ogre, temporarily paralyzing it. Asuna has chosen the element of light, and the other pillars of light including the one Asuna chose represent fire, water, light, darkness, nature, thunder, and air; the seven elements of Arcana.

"I'm going for air!" Said Lyfa as she ran towards the grey pillar.

Immediately after reaching the pillar of light, Lyfa was equipped with a new pair of boots. The boots were unique, as they were lined with silk and had small cupid wings at the side of them. Suddenly, the ogre swung it's axe at Lyfa, but she skilfully jumped out of the point of impact. Lyfa's boots then responded and she gracefully glided to safety.

"Whoa...amazing!" exclaimed Kirito.

But not before long, the ogre drew it's attention back to Kirito. It continued it's barrage of attacks, relentlessly trying to hunt down the swift and agile Kirito, who was constantly dodging it's every blow.

"I will go with darkness!" Kirito said as he leap onto the pillar of Black light.

"Huh?"

Kirito stood beside the pillar, puzzled at why nothing happened to him.

"Kirito! Behind you!"

Kirito has let his guard down and when he turned behind, the ogre's axe collided with his body, flinging him to the wall.

"Gaaah!" Kirito bellowed in agony as his health bar drops to a dangerously low red zone.

Lyfa Channeled the air in her stomach and blew out an enormous gust of wind, flinging the ogre away from Kirito. The ogre hit the ground face-first, and it was left there standing in a confused state.

"Asuna! Do it now!" Lyfa siganalled Asuna.

Asuna began chanting in an ancient language and charging huge amounts of power in her staff. As she continued chanting, the glow on her staff got brighter and brighter.

"Shine forth, and show me the way! Luminari...Ultima!"

A gigantic magic circle formed in front of asuna, and after a short delayed, a huge , blinding laser was fired at the ogre. The ogre's health bar dropped all the way down, and it gave a loud moan, before turning into a huge lump of green, shiny orbs. Suddenly, the green orbs were split evenly, and flowed in Kirito, Lyfa, and Asuna. This was the experience points gained from slaying the beast.

"Come on Kirito, i don't know what happened back there, but we still have to move forward." Asuna reassured Kirito as she extended her hand to him.

Kirito grabbed the hand and pulled himself up. The trio then continued their journey through the forest.

Kirito remained silent, and continued thinking of a solution for his problem. Could he be one of the weakest players? Or maybe he wasn't fit to obtain an element? Maybe Darkness was a bad choice? Maybe the game is bugged? Countless thoughts raced through his mind as he continued the journey with Asuna and Lyfa.

Soon, Kirito and the gang saw the faintest light coming from the path in front of them. They immediately knew it was the exit and ran towards the narrow path. What awaits them will be far more difficult than the battle with the ogre. This is just the beggining, and in Arcana Online, there are still countless areas left unexplored by players. Kirito brushed aside his anxiety and looked ahead to the future.

To Be Continued...

Setsuna:Hello everyone! I hope you have enjoyed reading Arcana Online! It took quite some time for me to write and edit this story, and i do apologize if i missed out some spelling or grammar error here and in all, please do stayed subscribed for more content to a nice day.


	3. The devil's might

**ARCANA ONLINE**

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**Chapter 3:The devil's might**

"Are we there yet..." Kirito moaned with a bored expression on his face.

It has been 30 minutes since they left the forest, and all they saw were trees, trees, and more trees. As they continued walking through the vast plains of Arcana, time was also catching up and soon the sky was dark without them even noticing it.

Unlike it's previous decendants, Arcana Online has a unique program that speeds up the brain's calculations making time in the game 5 times faster than the real world. Players could roam this world for half a day when it is only in fact around 2 hours in reality.

Just when they almost gave up, Asuna noticed a faint glow in the distance.

"Hey, look. Isn't that light? That means we are nearing our destination!"

"Let's not waste time here!" Kirito said as he starting running towards the glow.

"O-onii-chan! Wait up!"

The gang ran forward towards the glow, and soon they came to a halt near the edge of a cliff. Asuna gasped. From the elevated view of the cliff, below it was a village surrounded by a swarm of moonflowers. And in the middle of the village rested a gigantic moonflower, approximately 3 storeys high. It's beautiful, and gentle presense illuminated the night sky and gave the town a tranquil kind of feel. Kirito was amazed and speechless. To think that such detail and hard work was spent into designing a town that was not even a main attraction of the game. The game developers must have spent countless sleepness nights creating this masterpiece.

When the gang arrived at the entrance of the town, a message appeared in front of them. 'Welcome to Tsukihana, the town of new beginnings'.

"Tsukihana...what a beautiful name for a town..." Lyfa said, still amazed at the beautiful environment.

"Hey you guys! What took you so long?" said a familiar voice from afar.

Kirito turned his head and saw Lizbeth and Silica waving to them from the balcony of an inn.

"C'mom, lets go! Everyone is waiting for us!" Asuna said as she grabbed Kirito and Lyfa's hand.

When they entered the inn, they were led to a nearby table and sat down to have a chat with Lizbeth and Silica.

"Hey! What element did you guys pick?" Silica questioned the gang

"Asuna's is light, mine is air, but onii-chan's one..."

There was a slight moment of awkward silence.

Kirito hung his head in dissapointment. So he really was the only who had this problem. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for this game.

"Kirito i think you should visit the gigantic moonflower. All the new players said it has helped solve their problems and answered their questions and doubts about Arcana Online."

"A flower that answers questions? Wow...the A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) nowadays are really smart aren't they?" Asuna said, trying to lighten up the mood.

Kirito stood up and clenched his fist.

"I'm going to visit it now. If i keep stalling, nothing is going to change." Kirito was determined.

"Right. Glad that you have motivation. We will be here waiting for the good news!" Lizbeth patted Kirito on the back.

Kirito ventured out alone, as entrance to the flower is surrounded by an APF(Anti-Party Field). What the APF does is it basically acts as a barrier, so that any players who enter through that area will automatically be transported to a private server that only consists of them, no one else. This function is commonly found in quests or dungeons that require a player to enter solo.

There was a long trail all the way to the base of the giant moonflower. The trail was enchanting, as several smaller moonflowers sprouted and gave off a beautiful sparkling particles, making the air look magical. Kirito's footsteps made a squishy sound as the sole of his boots dug into the deep soil. On the way there, Kirito couldn't help but wonder how amazing it is that people are able to experience a real, solid world, and even feel pain in a game, and how much gaming has changed from the consoles and keyboards to a helmet that can emulate virtual reality. Although it is virtual, the experiences, friendships, and bonds forged in VMMORPGs are still real.

After what seemed like forever, Kirito finally reached the base of the flower. There was a system console at the Stalk of the gigantic moonflower and it immediately responded to Kirito after detecting his presense.

"Welcome, adventurer. What wisdom do you seek?"

"I need an answer."

"What kind of answer?"

"I am experiencing a problem with the game. I have already cleared the forests of trails and yet i am still unarmed, and without an element."

"System does not recognize the problem. Now handing control over to an administrator. Please wait patiently."

A short while later..

"Hello, i am an admin of Arcana Online, and i have heard your problem. This is indeed an unfortunate and extremely rare problem with players and i am extremely sorry to tell you that i will not be able to directly fix this problem for you. But know this, this occurrence is not a bug in the game."

"N-not a bug? Then why?" Kirito was confused.

"All i can say is this. There is a rock behind the moonflower with an inscription on it. That is all i can do in my power. The rest is up to you. Good luck, player."

The console returned back to it's normal state. Kirito was even more confused and made his way quickly to the back of the moonflower. There, at the bottom of one of the majestic petals laid a huge rectangular piece of rock. The inscription was gold in color and it wrote: "Magic comes from the will". Kirito did not understood the meaning of the message. What kind of game would deliberately restrict any form of self defense on a player when fighting is a main mechanic of the game? What was the purpose in doing so? The disappointed Kirito made his way out of the APF, and coudn't help feeling useless.

Meanwhile, there was a commotion going on in the Inn.

"N-no! Get away from me!"

"What's wrong? We just wanna have a little fun!"

A group of men wearing red uniform cornered a girl. One of them then stroked her left arm, and the girl retaliated by kicking him in the groin. Although little pain was felt, the man definetely looked pissed.

"Why you little.."

"That's enough!" Asuna pointed her staff at the group of men.

"Sexual harassment online is an offence punishable by imprisonment!" Lizbeth added, trying to intimidate the group of men.

"That is if you can trace us! Our nervegear is specially programmed to mask our IP Adresses. Did you honestly think you can scare us off with such a lame threat?"

The girl's eyes were terrified. They were the only ones in here, and those group of men were high-leveled players. Even with a number advantage, it would be hard to determine the winner if a fight were to break out.

"Actually miss, that's some nice curves you have there! I wouldn't mind having you for dessert!"

"You sick pervert!" Asuna covered her chests with her arms, her face red with embarrassment.

All of a sudden, the health bars of everyone in the Inn popped out. This was it. Duel mode was activated and during this mode, it is impossible for players to log out of the game. Although running was an option, Asuna could not bear to leave that girl behind, and she was sure the others in the gang felt the same. Strangely, the names of the men were displayed in a weird coding, probably masked as well.

"Psst Asuna, i will distract them with my magic, and you grab the girl and escape this Inn." Lyfa whispered in Asuna's ear.

"Whoa! Hold it right there, who said you were going anywhere?" the man casted a spell that formed a thick wall of wood around them.

"You ain't running from us!" said another man.

Asuna readied her staff. She was not about to let an innocent girl get harassed by a couple of scums.

"So you think you stand a chance against us?"

In a split second, the man dashed swiftly and appeared in front of the gang. He then placed his palm on the ground, and unleashed a whirlwind knocking everyone back.

"Ugh...this guy is faster than he looks. Probably an air element." Asuna said while pushing herself back up.

Silica summoned a green magic circle infront of her.

"Divine guardian scaled in emerald, come forth and lend me your strength! Arcesso, Kumiko!"

A small dragon with green scales and tiny wings emerged from a magic circle. The dragon gave a weak squeal and glared at the man in front of it.

"Bwahahahahaha! That's a dragon?" the man said while pointing at the dragon that was three times shorter than him.

"I fought better monsters in dungeons than that trash!"

Silica clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. She was obviously pissed off by the remarks the men made.

"Go! Kumiko!"

Kumiko charged at the man in front of Silica. The man darted to the side effortlessly and grabbed the dragon by it's neck. Kumiko squealed for help. The defenseless dragon could not do anything in it's weak state.

"Let go of Kumiko!" Silica grabbed the arm of the man.

The man gave her a kick in the stomach that sent Silica flying and crashing through the wooden wall. As it's master was no longer able to fight, the dragon vanished. Due to the hole that Silica made in the wall, there was now an opening for them to escape, but everyone was split up and they were in a tense situation. Lizbeth saw her friend lying on the ground, weakened by that attack and was infuriated.

"Damn you!" Lizbeth shouted at the man.

A scarlet magical circle appeared on the side of Lizbeth's left arm, and she reached her hand into the magic circle and drew a huge , metallic hammer. Lizbeth glared at the man with killing intent, and all of a sudden, red hot flames engulfed the tip of her hammer. Lizbeth took a quick step in front of her and swung the gigantic hammer at the man. However, he summoned strong air currents from his arms and redirected the hammer's attack. In this moment, Lizbeth was swung off balance, and the man blew a strong gust of wind, knocking her against the wall.

"Lizbeth!" Asuna cried out.

"Don't you have more things to worry about?" the man said in a thretening tone.

The air element man leapt in front of Asuna. The distance between their faces became dangerously near. Right at this moment, Lyfa channeled and fired a whirlwind from her mouth.

"Gaaahh!" the man was flung quite a distance and crashed into one of his comrades.

"Luminari...ULTIMA!" Asuna fired the devastating laser at the confused men. The impact brought their health bars all the way down to zero and they shattered into powder-like particles.

Asuna regained her confidence. Maybe they could actually win this fight!

"So you killed 2 of my weak men, and now you are thinking that you actually stand a chance against me?"

The man raised his left arm, and in the blink of an eye, a huge vine erupted from the ground and lashed at Lyfa, putting her out of commission. In this game, anyone with a level lower than 10 will not disappear when they die, but will instead automatically revive when the battle has ceased. Those men took advantage of this, knowing fully that their prey had no means of escape.

"Lyfa!" Asuna cried.

"W-what is happening here?" Kirito said in a shocked voice.

He had entered through the hole that Silica made in the wooden wall.

"K-kirito-kun!" Asuna was glad to see Kirito back.

The man snapped his fingers, and in an instant, huge, hairy roots appeared from the ground and binded Asuna and the girl, rendering them unable to move.

"Let go of Asuna!" Kirito was enraged.

"What's wrong? Is she your girlfriend? If she is...then you will enjoy watching me as i slowly violate her nice, slender body!" The man licked his lips and gave a smug look.

An overwhelming sensation filled Kirito. He clenched his fist and red sparks of rage blurred his vision.

"You...BASTARD!"

Kirito tried to punch the man but just as his attack was about to reach him, the same hairy roots dug out of the ground and rooted Kirito to the spot. The man approached Kirito's left ear.

"I told you, it's useless. Anyway, this is a nice girlfriend you have here. I wonder what kind of naughty things you had done to her in bed.." the man gave a mocking laugh and turned his back towards Asuna.

"NO! STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Kirito was completely helpless.

Kirito felt powerless. If only he had magic...then he could save Asuna and his friends right now. But deep down in his heart, Kirito knew that there was nothing he could do. Logging out was impossible and all he could do was struggle hopelessly and try to break free. Kirito cried tears of despair and helplessness.

"I-i'm so...useless!"

Just then, Kirito remembered the words on the inscription: "Magic comes from the will".

"That's right, i never once believed that i could perform magic. My will was never there in the first place!"

Upon reaching his realization, Kirito started to give out an evil and dark aura.

"I had magic all along, i was just afraid to face the truth!"

The man turned his attention back to Kirito.

All of a sudden, an immense amount of power surged out from Kirito, breaking him free from the roots.

"You are gonna pay what you have done." Kirito said, staring right into the man with killing intent.

"Diabolus, Manus." Kirito muttered.

Immense power started gathering at Kirito's right arm, shrouding it in darkness. The power was so huge that it blew the man back, making him lose his balance and fall. The man recovered and glanced at Kirito. His eyes widened. Kirito's arm has been transformed, and it was black in color. His fingertips were transformed into huge, sharp purple claws, and there was a magical crest on the back of his hand.

Without warning, Kirito appeared behind the man, and gave the man a swipe of his menacing claws.

"W-what is this magic? I have never seen anything like it!" the man said as he backed away in fear.

Kirito gave the man a stern look.

"This is the magic that i chose to believe in."

"But you are just another low leveled player! I still have the advantage!" the man readied his next spell.

The man summoned three plants in front of Kirito. The plants has an opening in front of them and they started firing poisonous spikes at Kirito. Kirito sprinted towards the man, swiftly dodging every spike in his path. The man glanced at Kirito's health bar. It was still full and Kirito has sustained no damage at all. Then the man noticed the familiar name. "Kirito"

The man fell on his back and sprawled away in terror.

"Aren't you Kirito? 'THE Kirito'?"

Kirito landed in front of the man.

"That is correct. I am Kirito, the player that cleared Sword Art Online, and also the player with one of the fastest reaction speeds in the history of gaming. Don't think that some puny plant is gonna stop me."

Kirito grabbed the man by his collar and gazed into his eyes.

"May your soul be crushed by fear, and ripped into shreds, as those who deny the darkness, shall perish on the night of the devils. Aerturnus nocturna supressio."

The world started to structurally collapse, and a dark aura started to engulf their surroundings until only Kirito and the man were left, in a dark, deserted and infinite landscape.

"W-WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?"

The man started to lose his mind in the chaos.

"You hurt my friends, and the people i cherish the most. Now you shall pay the ultimate price. This is my world, and there will be no escape."

"N-NOOO! SPARE ME PLEASE!" the man begged in a pathetic state.

Suddenly, thousands of terrifying eyes appeared in the blackness, all glaring at the man.

"You will pay for your sins...you will pay for your sins..." a voiced echoed in the man's head, becoming louder and louder.

Kirito slowly approached the terrified man. Without warning, he dug his huge claws into the stomach of the man. An unbelievably huge amount of blood started to gush out form the wound, and the man's soul almost broke when he saw thousands of spiders crawling out from his stomach.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHH! MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP!" the man broke out in tears and was literally begging to be spared.

"On one condition. Remove the masking program on your name." Kirito demanded.

Overtaken by fear, the man immediately obeyed and disabled the masking program on his Nervegear. In a flash, the world was back to it's present state, and Kirito was standing beside the man, who was uncontrollably weeping. Kirito contacted an administrator using the emergency call function of the game, and the man was immediately transferred to a private server by the Cyperpolice of Japan, waiting to be arrested. The administrator then performed a rollback on the battle, refunding Asuna and the gang of any experience points lost.

"Asuna...i-i'm so glad.." Kirito hugged Asuna tightly.

"Yeah. Thank you, Kirito-kun" Asuna reassured Kirito.

In the midst of their reunion, they almost forgot the girl that they were supposed to save. Asuna extended her hand towards the girl who had short, blue hair, and an innocent face of an angel. The girl took Asuna's hand and lifted herself off the ground.

"Umm...thank..you...for saving me." the girl said in a shy tone.

"I hope you are okay...ummm..." Silica tapped on the girl and viewed her profile.

Knowing what Silica was doing, the girl saved her of her trouble and introduced herself.

"My name is Sinon."

To be continued...

Setsuna: *stretches* ahh...that was a tiring 3 hours. My back hurts haha. Anyways, i hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter of Arcana Online and as you can tell by the ending, i am adding Sinon in as one of the main characters! I know there are some of you who are huge fans of Sinon :3 Anyways, please do stay subscribed for more content and just a short note, this story will be updated at least TWICE A WEEK because i will be very busy with school and exam preparations soon. Have a nice day!


	4. Spectral Force

**ARCANA ONLINE**

**Chapter 4:Spectral Force**

Clans are the main highlight of Arcana Online. Unlike other Virtual MMORPGs, the rate of experience increases with each party member you have to a maximum cap of 5 stacks. Therefore, it is not an uncommon sight to see players hunting or moving in groups. These players who frequently party up then create clans of their own. The most powerful and respected clan in Arcana is none other than the clan "Immortal". Consisting of 7 members of all different elements, this clan has fought it's way to the top rankings and is both feared and admired by other players.

And so, we head back to the main story and Kirito and the gang are currently trying to create a new clan.

Surely nothing can go wrong, can it?

"ughh...this is exhausting" Kirito said as he scratched his head with both hands.

"How about FairyTail?" Asuna suggested.

"You can't copy an anime title, baka" Lizbeth sighed.

The gang were in the middle of creating a guild, and as usual, names are always the hardest to choose.

"How about MoonRiders?" Lyfa said embarrasingly.

"Umm...Lyfa, doesn't that sound kind of..."

"I know onii-chan! It's embarrasing okay..." Lyfa gave Kirito a nudge.

Kirito and the gang gave a loud sigh. They have been sitting in the same inn for an hour now, and still, no one came up with a decent name.

A notification popped up: "Sinon has

logged in"

"Oh, h-hey there." Sinon was surprised at why they were still there.

Kirito invited Sinon to have a seat and explained their situation. And before they knew it, everyone was randomly spamming names again.

"Starburst Stream!" Kirito announced proudly.

"Isn't that the name of your skill in sword art online?" Asuna facepalmed.

"How about Shining Force?" said Silica.

"Almost there... but it needs more..how do i put it...it needs to invoke fear in our enemies!" Lizbeth said with a cunning gaze.

"Spectral force"

"What? Sinon, would you mind repeating that?" Kirito leaned over to Sinon.

"Ummm...Spectral Force." Sinon said, tilting her head down.

"Perfect!" everyone exclaimed.

Sinon looked up at their overjoyed faces and gave a puzzled look. Was a name really that hard to think of?

"Then it's decided! Our clan will be called Spectral Force!" Kirito declared in glory.

"Umm...would you guys mind if i join? You guys are the first people who were kind to me in this game, and i feel safer with you guys around. It's okay if you don't want to though..."

"What are you talking about? Of course you can join!" replied Kirito.

Kirito extended his hand towards Sinon. She hesitated for a moment and then grabbed his hand. Kirito then added her to the list and sent the clan application. A few seconds later, a new bar appeared below everyone's name. It was bronze in color and had their clan name displayed.

"Everyone! We are now known as Spectral Force!"

And thus having created their new clan, Kirito and the gang continued their journey to the next location.

A few hours later...

"Hey look! The sun is rising!"

Silica pointed at the infinite blue sky,

and the white fluffy clouds that barely blocked out the sun.

"Even if the sunsets are magenta, the sky is still blue. Pretty isn't it?" Asuna said as she raised her hand over her eyes to block out the sun's rays.

All of a sudden, a pack of wolves jumped out from the bushes nearby and surrounded the gang. There were around 30 in total, and they were heavily outnumbered.

Everyone readied their magic and weapons. Kirito observed the wolves and noticed something weird. There was a magic symbol on the forehead of the wolves, which means they are tamed. But who, could posess the power to control so many beasts at once?

A drop of sweat trickled down Kirito's forehead. One wrong move and they are all dead. One wrong move and they have to walk all the way from Tsukihana, which would take ages. Kirito scanned the surroundings and caught a glimpse of a shadow leaping down a tall tree.

"Don't try anything funny!" a man's voice echoed from behind the bushes.

To be continued...

Setsuna:I hope you have enjoyed reading chapter 4of Arcana Online. Unfortuanately, i will have to reduce chapter updates to once a week, as school is really putting alot of stress on me. Sorry for the inconvenience and have a nice day.

Note:If there is time, i could write more chapters. But those occasions will be quite uncommon.


	5. Ambushed

**ARCANA**** ONLINE**

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**Chapter 5:Ambushed**

****Recap:The last time we left off, our heroes had recently created a new guild and are now heading towards their next destination. But they were ambushed by a pack of wolves and an unknown man makes his appearance.

"Don't try anything funny!" The man commanded.

The man's name was displayed as 'Max' and he was in a clan called "Predator".

A drop of sweat trickled down Kirito's face. Is he alone? What powers does he have? What attribute is he? Regardless of the situation, Kirito had to think of a way out, and time was running short.

"Now i want you guys to hand me 300 gold each, and i shall let you pass."

Kirito hesitated for a second before opening his inventory. He gulped when he saw the amount that was currently in his inventory; 125 gold. Kirito frowned and thought that they probably should have farmed up some gold in the beginner area before moving on. The creation of the clan probably got them too excited and eventually, sidetracked.

"What's wrong? Short on cash?" Max said with a cunning smile.

"Oh well." Max snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, the 30 wolves around Kirito and the gang glowed blue and one by one, started pouncing at them. The wolves were a level higher than them, and as the gang desperately defended against the wolves attacks, Max stood on a tree branch, laughing and mocking them. Although everyone else were using their spells constantly, Sinon only shot at the wolves with a bow, and the arrows seemed to do almost no damage to the wolves at all. Kirito was suspicious. There was absolutely no damaged sustained even though Sinon was rapidly firing away at the wolves, but yet she appeared calm in this tense situation.

"This is getting boring! Too bad noobs, today just wasn't your day!"

Max began channeling magic in his fingers. He then put his charged fingers on his lips and blew a whistle that made a loud, thundering noise. The remaining 14 wolves began to discharge blue sparks, and howled loudly at the sky, as if they were channeling lightning. Kirito was shocked and did not know what to do. Max was too far away for him to activate his illusion, and everyone was low in health.

"Harness the divinity of the thunders and vaporize the enemy! Mugio, Fulgur!"

The air around Kirito and the gang was infused with sparks and all the wolves howled simultaneously. After a short delay, a huge burst of lightning struck Kirito and the gang.

"Fwahahahahha! Look at you weaklings!" Max arrogantly mocked Kirito and the gang.

As the battle was already over, Max jumped off the tree branch and walked into the thick fog to collect his spoils of battle.

"Bzzt...bzzt...bzzt.."

Out of the blue, a gigantic arrow infused with lightning shot out from the fog at the supersonic speed. The tip of the arrow pierced through max, and the impact was so huge that the arrow carried him along and nailed him to a huge tree. The electricity from the tip of the arrow then discharged rapidly and as the bright, shining light illuminated the battle scene, Max's cries could be heard by Kirito and the gang through the fog of war.

Sinon approached the already weakened and paralyzed max, who was nailed to the tree.

"B-but how? I don't understand..." Max said disbelievingly.

"I am a lightning element, and this bow is powered by electricity. It was a foolish move to reveal your trump card when you wasn't even sure what element i was. I simply absorbed the electricity from that attack." Sinon replied with a wry smile on her face.

Kirito stepped forward to the man and opened the menu.

"Menu Combat Enemy Max Loot"

A bag of gold appeared in Kirito's hand.

"This 8000 gold is quite a large amount, it would be a shame if you lost it all." Kirito said in a carefree tone.

"Please! Let me have at least some of the gold back! I would do anything!" The man pleaded.

"Oh really? Now tell me. How many of your other clan members are here, and what elements are they? "

Max hesitated for a second, but after glancing at the bag of gold, he blurted out all the information. Kirito whispered something in Asuna's ear and she nodded, while looking at the man. Kirito opened the inventory and took out a bag containing 2000 gold. He then transferred it to Max's account as max's hand was too severed to even move. Asuna then casted a pillar of light which executed him.

"Now we have 2 more to take care off. They probably would have noticed their dead comrade and would try to hunt us down. Proceeding forward now will be too dangerous. Let's set up an ambush." Kirito suggested.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and soon after that, the hunt for the remaining 2 members of "Predator" has begun.

Setsuna: It looks like the chapters are getting shorter and shorter haha. Worry not, as chapters will definetely be longer when the story arrives at the main events. Anyways, i hope you guiys have enjoyed reading Arcana Online and have a nice day!


	6. Hunting the Predator

**ARCANA ONLINE**

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**Chapter 6:Hunting the Predator**

"I hear something!" Kirito whispered.

The faint sound of footsteps can be heard in the distance. Kirito glanced at Asuna and gave her a reassuring look. Not before long, a man and a woman approached the ambush point. Kirito loaded up their profiles and turned at the rest of the gang.

"Go!"

In a split second, Kirito and the gang leapt out of their hiding spot, and surrounded the enemy. Kirito glared at them with determination. The man looked slightly irritated as he tried to maintain his calm composure. His eyes met those of Kirito's as he summoned a shiny, double edged axe out of a magic circle. The man then took out an item from his inventory; a [Self Destruct Rune].

"Are you crazy? Put that thing down!" Lyfa cried, realizing what the item was.

A [Self Destruct Rune] is an item in Arcana Online that when activated, blows up everything in a 20 meter radius. It is usually used when a player finds himself stuck in enemy territory. But the price to pay is a heavy one, everyone caught in the blast will lose all of their items. Yes. All of their items will be erased from their inventory, and this can be a pain if a player were to lose quests items.

Kirito's claw tightened to a grip. This was completely unexpected. The man sneered at Kirito and held the dangerous item up high.

"I'm sure you can count. 2 to 5, that will be the losses on both sides. And obviously, the ones on my side will not be as bad as yours." said the man in a cunning tone.

Kirito's confident smile turned into a frown. He should have anticipated the use of such an item before setting up the ambush.

"Now, here's what we will do. I will challenge one of you to a duel, fair and square. And there is a special condition. Both sides are to bet all their items on the line."

"Damn you!"

Kirito suppressed his building rage as his claw shaked in anger. Things did not turned out as planned, and they were in a tight spot.

"Fine. Have it your way."

Kirito raised his left hand and opened the menu. He then traced his finger on top of the man and sent a duel request. Sure enough, the man accepted and both sides bet all their items on the line. If Kirito wins, he will receive the [Self Destruct Bomb] from the man together with all his other items, making his kamikaze attempt futile.

There are two types of duels in Arcana Online. One is a forced duel, and the other is a normal duel. In a forced duel, a player can attack another player without warning as long as he enters that mode. But in exchange, the loot obtained from that player will be reduced greatly, to a mere 1 percent of his/her gold. But in a normal duel, players can bet anything they want on the line.

Kirito moved his fingers to the notification on the top right of his Heads up display. As his finger touched the button, he flexed his claw.

[3...2...1...BATTLE START]

"Fwoosh"

Both Kirito and the man took a step back, carefully analyzing each other. Kirito noticed the man's name: Kenji. Judging from his first move, this guy was no pushover and was probably on the same level or even better than Kirito. But both their levels were the same, making this a fair one on one fight.

"If you dont make the first move...I WILL!"

Kenji blinked in front of Kirito in a flash, and their distances closed in extremely fast. Kirito did a backflip and landed a safe distance from Kenji-but he did not stop. From his position, Kenji blinked once more, and this time he appeared behind Kirito. Kenji raised his axe high above his head and brought it down with huge force, but Kirito's was not about to lose in terms of speed. With lightning quick reaction, Kirito raised his claw and intercepted the attack, causing both sides to take some recoil in the process, knocking them away from each other.

"Hey! You aren't half bad!"

"So are you!" Kirito replied with a broad smile.

This was the first time Kirito had met an opponent worthy of him in Arcana Online, and a rush of adrenaline pumped through his veins.

Kirito's claw began charging up power, and a dark aura emanated from the crest on the back of his claw.

Kirito then swung his claw and a wave of dark energy exploded and was homing towards Kenji. But just as it was about to hit Kenji, he skillfully blinked in front of the wave, making it miss and hit the ground. Kenji then came running towards Kirito, and the next moment, he dissapeared and reappeared behind Kirito. Kirito's was shocked and caught off guard, and he was dealt with a heavy blow from Kenji which sent him rolling on the ground. Kirito glanced at his health bar, 80 percent; compared to the 100 percent of Kenji's.

"If this keeps up i will end up losing." Kirito thought.

He needed to find out the secret behind that blink, it's cooldown, and most importantly, Kenji's element which has not been revealed yet.

"It was a good try but i'm afraid it ends here Kirito!"

"Lumen Mundus" Kenji whispered.

All of a sudden, a magical circle appeared on the ground and expanded greatly until the area was like a small arena. Threads of light then sprouted from the edges of the circles and enclosed the entire area. Kenji then charged at Kirito for his final assault. Kirito stood in a defensive stance, anticipating another blink attack. As expected, Kenji blinked in front of Kirito. Kirito smiled and lauched his claw at Kenji's stomach.

"Vwoosh"

He blinked again! This time, Kirito was completely clueless about what to do, and as he turned to face Kenji, he was pummeled with a barrage of attacks from Kenji. Kirito fell to the ground, his vision slightly blurred. His health bar dropped all the way to the redzone. This is it, one more hit and he's done for. Could this be the end?

"Ahahah! Just give up! This is the end of the line!"

Kirito clenched his left fist and lifted himself off the ground. He was not about to lose this fight. But how? How could he find a way to counter Kenji's blink? Then Kirito eyes widened. He had realized something. Kenji did not really blink, he was simply manipulating the rays of light away from Kirito's eyes, creating the illusion of a dissapearance.

"Prepare to get crushed!" Kenji charged at Kirito with determined eyes.

This time, Kirito remained calm and readied his claw for a counterattack.

Kenji suddenly dissapeared from sight and right at this moment, Kirito discharged a huge amount of dark aura from his claw, shouding himself in darkness. In the pitch black, he saw a bright flash of light. Right at this moment, Kirito lauched his claw at the spectrum of light.

"GAAAAHHH!"

Kirito's claw stopped moving-it hit something. From the pitch black of the darkness, Kirito saw the faint outline of Kenji's shocked face, as the claw had penetrated his stomach. But Kirito didn't stop there. He was not about to let his only chance slip away. Kirito tossed Kenji a distance away and charged up dark energy in his claw as he bolted towards his target. With a leap and a heroic battlecry, Kirito drove the claw infused with dark energy into Kenji who was still in midair. He then lifted Kenji up while his claws were still dugged deep inside of him, and slammed his powerless foe to the ground. The impact was massive, and the arena of light that Kenji created shattered into tiny fragments.

This was it, the battle was decided. Kirito has won against an opponent whom he thought was impossible to beat.

Seeing her comrade defeated, the woman surrendered and teleported back to the nearest town.

"That was amazing Kirito-kun!" Asuna praised Kirito as she gave him a light nudge.

A window suddenly popped up on everyone's HUD(Heads up display).

[Spectral force has advanced from ranked 14203 to 13242! Congratulations!]

"Now this is a great headstart for our Clan!" Lizbeth exclaimed.

"But Onii-chan! Look at the time in the real world! It's already 9.30pm!" Lyfa reminded Kirito worriedly.

"Oh crap! Oh well, i guess i will be leaving now! See you guys soon!" said Kirito.

"Actually, i think we all need to logout right now. See you guys tommorow!" Lizbeth waved goodbye as her avatar dematerialized into thin air.

"See you guys soon!" Kirito bade his friends farewell.

Kirito opened his eyes and removed the heavy nervegear from his head. He then stood up and stretched his body.

"Ahhhhh! My whole body is aching!"

Soon after that, someone knocked on his room door. And he probably knew who she was.

"Come in"

Asuna opened the door and Suguha was standing beside her.

(Quick note for those who are not familiar with SAO, Suguha is Lyfa' real name, in reality)

"Onii-chan! It's too late for any cooking now so let's head over to the convenience store for dinner!"

"Sure thing Sugu." Kirito smiled warmly at his sister.

As they walked through the empty streets to the convenient store, Asuna pointed up to the sky.

"Wow! There are lots of stars today!"

"There sure are." Kirito stood closer to Asuna as he marvelled at the shiny dots that decorated the night sky.

Although Suguha still had a small amount of affection for her brother, she accepted the truth and was happy for Asuna and Kirito. Sometimes in life, things dont always go your way but there are also things that we have to accept.

"Hey Onii-chan."

"Yeah Suguha?"

"Let's always stay like this. You, Asuna-san, Lizbeth-san, Silica-chan, and oh, Sinon-san. Let's always be friends!"

"You forgot to mention your name in it! Yeah, let's always stay this way." Kirito patted Suguha on the head.

And so, Kirito, Asuna, and Suguha, continued walking to the convenience store, and making a silent wish that this peace in their daily lives will last forever.

To be continued...

Setsuna: Alright, that's chapter 6 for you! I hope you guys enjoyed it! Anyways, the next chapter will be a sidestory of an original character that i am introducing to Arcana Online, so look forward to it!


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